From a Domain Name Registration To Getting Your Site Online (Part One)

This is the first of 3 articles that will take you from the first step of a domain name registration to the final step of getting your website on the Internet.
It all starts with Domain Name Registration

Before you can get your website on the web you need to have a domain name. Domain names are the familiar web addresses (domain-name-registration-info.com) that web browsers use to locate a particular website. Domain names, in fact, are pointers to a particular IP address (IP = Internet Protocol) and we use them because they are easier to remember than a series of numbers.

All websites have an IP address in the form 123.456.78.9. The domain name system translates these numbers into names such as example.com. All domain names are registered in a central domain name registry maintained by InterNIC, a subsidiary of ICANN - the organization which certifies domain name registrars. Domain names are filtered through Domain Name Servers (DNS) which link IP addresses with domain names. Each website usually has a primary and a secondary DNS - duplicates that increase reliability.

The first and also not very easy step in domain name registration is to select the right one. The name could be almost anything you want, although if possible, it should reflect the theme of your website as close as possible for better results. Let's say, if you are selling jewelry, it is better to have a domain name that has some reference to jewelry like buyjewelry.com. It is also recommended to use your primarily targeted keyword in your domain name which could increase the ranking of your website in the major search engines like Google and Yahoo.
Domain name rules

There are strict but simple rules for domain names - only letters, numbers and hyphens are allowed. Another rule is that domain name can contain only up to 63 characters, but it is recommended to keep it as short as possible. You are free to use UPPER as well as lower case characters in a Domain name - case is ignored by DNS but you can use a combination to make the name easier to read. MyExample.com is easier to read than myexample.com, but both are same to the Domain Name Server.
Top-level domain names

There are many top-level domains (top-level domain or TLD is the last part of an internet domain name) available. The most widely known is .com - it has even been included to common vocabulary as a way to express Internet activity - (I started a dot com business). Other top-level domains include .biz, .org, .net, .name, .info and many others. There are also top-level domains with more specialized uses such as .museum, .aero, .mil and .coop which are used exclusively by certain type of organizations. In addition to the TLDs listed above, there are many country code TLDs (ccTLD) such as .us (United States), .cn (People's Republic of China), uk (United Kingdom) or jp (Japan). The rules for registering country code top-level domains vary, so we recommend to check with your registrar about the availability of a given country code TLD for your use.

Domain names can usually be registered for a minimum of one year with the ability to register for up to 10 years. All domain names must be registered through an ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) certified registrar. You can choose to register your domain with one of the hundreds of currently certified domain name registrars and the list keeps growing every day. Although registrars are strictly regulated, they are allowed to offer their services through third parties, so many web hosts offer a domain name registration services even if they are not a domain name registrar.